Written by

Free Press Staff Writer

In sentencing Lisa Fox to three years probation, Judge Brian Grearson said the weight of knowing she contributed to her mother’s fatal overdose surpassed any penalty the court might impose.

“I can’t imagine a greater punishment than someone feeling they have played a part in their mother’s death,” Grearson said during the hearing Friday morning in Vermont Superior Court in Burlington. “Regardless of what the court does today, that’s a punishment you’ll have to carry with you the rest of your life.”

Fox, 35, pleaded no contest in December to a felony count of dispensing a regulated drug with death resulting. She had initially denied the charge, which states she gave her mother, Cindy Goulet, Dilaudid that led to her death.

Goulet, 54, of Burlington died June 3 at 141 Manhattan Drive from a lethal combination of benzoylecgonine (cocaine) and hydromorphone (Dilaudid), according to the Vermont Chief Medical Examiner’s Office.

“I just got caught up in her world, I just wanted to help her,” Fox told the court Friday. “I’m sorry.”

Fox also apologized directly to her sister, Jessica Goulet.

Goulet had told Burlington police that Fox gave their mother Dilaudid, and another woman, Anna Clark, 28, of Winooski, brought crack cocaine to the residence prior to Cindy Goulet’s death, according to an affidavit.

Clark later told police she shared a half-gram of crack cocaine with Goulet and that they also took a Dilaudid tablet, the affidavit states. Fox told police she had given her mother one Dilaudid tablet to relieve the woman’s pain, according to the affidavit.

Defense attorney Michael Straub said at Friday’s hearing that while Fox had accepted responsibility for the crime, the court should note that Cindy Goulet “had a high quantity of cocaine in her system at the time.”

“If it hadn’t been for the cocaine, I don’t think the quantity of Dilaudid would have led to anyone’s death,” Straub said.

Chittenden County Deputy State’s Attorney Justin Jiron told the court that in agreeing to the sentence, the prosecution considered that Fox had no prior criminal record and was not a drug dealer who walked away from a deal ambivalent of the possible consequences.

“At the same time, her mother was an adult,” continued Jiron, who, he said, took the drugs, “willingly and voluntarily.”

Fox lives with her husband and daughter in Rutland. Her conditions of probation include 200 hours of community service, GPS monitoring and a 24-hour curfew with some exceptions, like to carry out childcare responsibilities pre-approved by the Department of Corrections.

Also at the hearing, per the plea agreement, Grearson dismissed a misdemeanor count of lying to a police officer.

Prosecutors have also charged Clark in connection with Goulet’s death. She pleaded not guilty in August.